Why do we use the term Platonic to talk about a noble non sexual relationship?

Question

When what Plato was talking about in the Symposium was a sexual relationship between an older man and an attractive younger man

I wish people would read the whole question.

Answer 1

It's a bit of a misnomer, granted. However, I think the reason lies with the philosophy of neo-platonism which incorporated the theory of Plato's forms into a mystical branch of Christianity. Hence, to behold the beauty of a young woman (or man, as the case may be) was to perceive not the unique attributes of a single person but the "idea" or "form" of beauty itself. In practice, this meant that by appreciating or praising physical beauty in a chaste fashion, you believed yourself to be in contact with the superior force behind everthing in the universe. Suddenly the act of beholding beauty became a chaste connection to God rather than a lustful desire of the individual.

Answer 2

Platonic love in its modern popular sense is an affectionate relationship into which the sexual element does not enter, especially in cases where one might easily assume otherwise. A simple example of platonic relationships is friendship between two heterosexual people of the opposite sexes.

At the same time, this interpretation is a misunderstanding of the nature of the Platonic ideal of love, which from its origin was that of a chaste but passionate love, based not on uninterest but virtuous restraint.

The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th Century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino as a synonym for amor socraticus. Both expressions signify a love focused on the beauty of a person's character and intelligence rather than on their physical charms. They refer to the special bond of affection between two men Plato had highlighted in a dialogue, and exemplified by the affection between Socrates and his young male pupils, in particular to the one between Socrates and Alcibiades. On Ficino and the Symposium

The English term dates back as far as Sir William Davenant's Platonic Lovers (1636). It is derived from the concept in Plato's Symposium of the love of the idea of good which lies at the root of all virtue and truth.

Because of the common modern definition, platonic love can be seen as paradoxical in light of these philosophers' life experiences and teachings. Plato and his peers did not teach that a man's relationship with a youth should lack an erotic dimension, but rather that the longing for the beauty of the boy is a foundation of the friendship and love between those two. However, having acknowledged that the man's erotic desire for the youth magnetizes and energizes the relationship, they countered that it is wiser for this eros to not be sexually expressed, but instead be redirected into the intellectual and emotional spheres.